Dave Reynell has lived in the South African coastal town of Knysna most of his life and worked there as a conservation forester, managing the rain forests. The town lies on the edge of the Knysna River estuary and Dave’s home is on Leisure Island, one of the town's two causeway-connected islands. Dave's home is on Leisure Island, center, surrounded by the Knysna Estuary and just a short distance from the Southern Ocean, left. This photo was taken by son Edward while flying a glider.
Edward Reynell
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Beautiful boat, really nice workmanship. Knysna looks like boat heaven in the photos.
One more pretty boat that I would love to build, but this is probably not the right boat if I want to take my 6 y/o daughter on board every now and then.
Peter, I have often thought of finding someone clever enough to “stretch” the lines to about 14′. This would make for a perfect “two-seater”.
Thanks for your comment, Dave. It has been stretched… Check out these sites: Tacking Outrigger and MARY E. I’m also a bit worried about lateral stability—would it be safe to take a 6-year-old on board?
Apologies for the late reply, Peter. The 12 footer is very tender and when I launch her it is from a small beach, in very still and shallow water. I have to make sure that I place my left foot (I board from the port side) squarely in the centre of the hull. I then heave my right leg onboard and sit down quickly ! Part of the extra caution is due to age (79 ¾).
I have rowed two up with one of my sons who was, at the time, about 12 years of age. Not ideal as with the hull settled lower in the water there was far more “drag” when rowing.
It might be worth enquiring about MARY E, but, by the comments on the Sydney Wooden Boats website, the 14 footer should do a whole lot better, two-up, than the 12. How they managed to get the weight down to 28 kg (roughly 62 pounds) is a mystery, I’m sure my 12 footer weighs closer to 90+.
At a guess, I would think that the 14 foot version would take two comfortably. It might not be all that fast (two-up) but it would, surely, be more stable than the 12 with one on board.
I was taken by the picture of the restored Kinney 12-footer, started web-searching around, and pretty quickly got myself a copy of Kinney’s version of Skene’s book. It’s interesting that Kinney’s description of the little boat states that “The little boat is a joy to row. Her capacity is four adults, one forward, one aft, and two amidships”. I think the capacity estimates there and in the previous notes are a humorous reminder of the normal subjectivity in boat evaluations. Looks to me as if a 13- or 14-footer like the MARY E would be a wholesome and useful boat!